I just had to share this wondrous children's toy/activity that I only recently became acquainted with. One of my oldest, dearest friends brought it to a recent Cards Against Humanity outing as a gift for my three year old daughter. (Side note: We met at kid friendly t.b.d.Brooklyn, which has a small area of grass and many picnic tables. They also have great grilled food with vegetarian options - a jalapeno jack cheese veggie burger with Sriracha mayo - Hey-o!) When I got home Chloe and I decided to give it a go.
Upon opening the package we found two pieces of cardboard cut out into the shape of a tree, a bag of crystals, and a white plastic tray for holding the tree.
Once the tree was assembled and the branches arranged we fit it into it's holder and filled the tray with the crystals and some water.
As the cardboard began to absorb the water started to see crystals growing on the trunk and branches.
Chloe (and I) were so fascinated by the Magic Crystal tree that I found myself on Amazon looking for more iterations on the same theme. There weren't very many but there were some other cool ones worth trying. (See: Magic Garden, Magic Crystal Dinoland, Snow Bonsai )
But THEN, then I hit the mother lode. While searching for more kits I stumbled on a site called Steve Spangler Science. Some may recall the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment that awed the masses with it's operatic soda geysers, you can thank Steve Spangler for that (and the producers of Mythbusters). A veritable Ron Popeil of science toys.
The site is free to sign-up for and (among other things) it houses the largest online database of DIY science projects for kids. And, OHMYGODYOUGUYS, they have the Magic Crystal Tree experiment and it's ridiculously easy.
This website was an uber find! I hereby set a goal of trying at least once experiment a week with Chloe. Go science!
No comments:
Post a Comment